Saturday Snapshot

Home, home on the range
Where the deer and the antelope play
Where seldom is heard a discouraging word
And the skies are not cloudy all day

(I am singing this now as I type!   It will now be stuck in my head all day.  sigh.)

Last month our friends, the Cain's, invited us out on their boat.  April gives me a bad time about not being
1) a spur of the moment person  (I'm not--I need to work from a list)
2) an outdoor person  (she's wrong with this one. I LOVE to work in my yard and take long walks and do some short hiking AND we eat our supper out on the patio every night during the summer)

Okay, she might mean I don't like to do ADVENTUROUS stuff outdoors.  But I do love the outdoors--I think sunlight on water is the most beautiful sight in the world!!  I could take my book and sit by it all day long.  In the shade, with my good book, and sunglasses and sunscreen, BUT HECK, I do too love the sounds of all those other people being adventurous on the water!! 

So, when they invited us to spend the day on the water in their boat--after giving me a few days advance notice of course--I jumped at the chance!   It was just the 4 of us,  and we didn't ski or swim or anything  (thank goodness),  we just relaxed  and enjoyed the day. Outdoors!!  April took some crab salad and shrimp salad and I took some fresh bakery rolls to put it on.  We had fruit and cheese  and some snacks ,  magazines, books.... It was a Pontoon boat, so we even had space to sit back and take a little nap.  Which April and I did.   Doug did a little fishing-- It was a glorious day.

I bet a couple of you are wondering--how can they have enough water to go boating if they live in the desert?  There is a huge reservoir about 40 miles from here, that's how.  Yes, it is 'desert' boating--I'll show you pictures--which brings me to today's post SATURDAY SNAPSHOT.
I'm going to link up with Alyce from At Home  With Books and her Saturday Snapshot meme.
You should too.  It's fun.  All you have to do is share a picture (or two) that you or someone you know took.  (nothing pulled from the Internet or anything).  You can write as little or as much as you want about the photos. Then link up at her Blog and wah-la!  That's it.  It really is fun.

Wait---this is all coming back around--with the antelope song--I'm working it in.

While we were boating, we saw some antelope on the shore.  Can you see them? 

We go closer so I could get better pictures--that and I changed lenses too.
This was a 'cluster' of antelope.  Or a herd.   I looked up collective nouns because I think they are funny.  I mean, who ever heard of a cluster of antelope?

A couple  of them climbed to the top of the bluff.

This one was walking the wrong way--I was a bit worried about him, as he was leaving his friends.

And that is the end of what I am submitting to Saturday  Snapshot. 
What follows are just a few for my friends  (but you can look too if you feel like it)

****************************************************************************************************

This is where we put the boat in.   Our lovely desert reservoir---it's huge tho.   22 miles long to be exact.  We went from the beginning  (here) to the end and back.  We saw birds and antelope and a beaver, whom we followed for a while to see where he was building his home.

There it is--SUNLIGHT on the water.  I love that sight.  And of course, April and the ol' Handyman.  ( did not, DID NOT say old.  I said  ol')

And Doug driving the boat.  We were just taking off from the boat ramp.

Just the desert as scenery.

And  a nap is always good in the afternoon!   (but I don't know how anyone can sleep on their stomach.  )

It was a great day! Thanks  Cains.

Lemon Graham Squares

Often,  even tho I love to cook and bake, my time seems very limited sometimes-- with work, social commitments and friends and family--so it's always a nice surprise  when I find a recipe that is really quick and really easy and most of all really good. 

I love the taste of lemon and these little graham cracker squares are packed with lemon flavor.  I used the juice a two lemons, but depending on how juicy your lemons are you might need a third.   This would be a great bar to take to potlucks, family gatherings, or to work--to woo your co-workers.   

Since it is just myself and the Handyman at home, and I have no co-workers, I had to give some of these bars away---to anyone who came thru my door. They would have been too dangerous to keep to myself.

The first day, the crust and the topping are  kind of crunchy or crispy and it is just right with the lemon filling.  I loved it.

The recipe doesn't say to, but I did keep them refrigerated after baking them--that creamy, lemony filling kind of begged to be refrigerated, but it does tend to make the graham crackers moist and not so crispy. Still good, but not as good as the day you bake them

Here's the thing tho--it's only a  9-inch pan, so if you have people over, they will get eaten all gone and then you don't have to worry about it!

I found these bar in the Taste of Home, Ultimate Cookie Collection cookbook. I've had this cookbook for about 5 years, but I think I glanced at it when I first got it and them it got stuck in a drawer or upstairs in a closet.  I had no room to keep all my cookbooks in one place.  Now that my kitchen is done,   I have been having so much fun looking thru old cookbooks...everything is displayed in my kitchen.  I've never had them all at my fingertips before---now they are all in sections, by theme, by author/chef--like I said,  SO MUCH FUN!

I'm really enjoying this cookie cookbook tho. 

Lemon Graham Squares
Taste of Home Ultimate Cookie Collection

1 can (14oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3/4  cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash salt
1/2 cup melted butter

In a bowl, combine the milk and lemon juice, mix well, set aside. In another bowl, combine the cracker crumbs, flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in butter until crumbly.

Press half of the crumb mixture into a greased 9-inch square baking dish.  Pour lemon mixture over crust; sprinkle with remaining crumbs.   Bake at  375F for  20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. 
Cool in pan on a wire rack.
Cut into bars.